City went into half-time with a comfortable 2-0 lead against the Magpies, but Alan Pardew’s men came out fighting in the second period, with Demba Ba pulling one back before Yaya Toure killed the game off late on.

But the Italian praised the link-up play between the Argentine pairing telling Sky Sports: “They are perfect.

“They play very well together but we have Edin [Dzeko] as well who was important for us today because he kept the ball when he came on. We have Mario [Balotelli] as well at home.”

The former Inter manager also insisted that Mario Balotelli still has a future with the club, despite the fact that the Italy international was left out of his squad for the trip to Newcastle.

“Yes, why not? He was at home only because he needs to work,” he continued.

“If he deserves to play it’s because he works well. If not, he stays on the bench. He must understand that, like all the other players.”

Although City’s attacking players showed a touch of class on more than one occasion on Saturday afternoon, the 48-year-old played down talk of it being their best performance of the season.

“No. The best football we’ve played was against United in the second half,” he added.

“In the second 45 minutes against United we stayed entirely in their half and I think if you do that you play a very good game.

“We lost in the end and in the end result matters but today we did very well because we created a lot of chances to score.”